From the window cleaning mail bag. 

Hi Steve:

Matt (the weatherman as primary job) writing from North Carolina. All is going well.  Batting 1000 so far with estimates- getting all jobs (7 for 7).  Doing them during afternoon and weekends.  Average house is on a lake and costing 250 to 350 bucks.  I’m spending 3 to 5 hours cleaning outside and screens first day and 3 to 5 hours the second day doing inside and putting screens back.  I spend a lot of time on a ladder as these are home from 3000 to 5000 square feet. 

Frankly, those darn screens can eat up to 3 hours of my time taking them down, cleaning and reinstalling!  I charge 2 bucks a screen now after initially charging 1 buck.  Most homes have had 35 or so screens.  No advertising so far- just putting the sign at the curb and most times someone walks buy and asks for an estimate, or, they find my website.

My question:  should I joing something like the Master Window Cleaners of America?  It costs 50 bucks.  Some material benefit but I was mainly looking to get listed as a member in their directory so it would add another internet avenue to my business.  I’m on with your directory and my web host tracker has shown people finding me there, too.

Thanks,

Matt

My Response:

Hi Matt the weatherman:

How are you doing this morning?  How’s the weather over yonder?  Sorry…couldn’t resist.   

Fantastic on batting a 1000.  Cool.  A couple of things to talk about along with some suggestions.

First off, you may want to look at your pricing.  It may be a bit early to do this since it’s only been 7 jobs, but my rule of thumb was if I closed 100% of the jobs I presented, my pricing was too low and it needed to be boosted up.  If you close around 85%, your pricing is perfect. If you close a low 50% or 60%, then you’re pricing is a bit high.  Just some thoughts to keep in mind. 

Again…it’s still a bit early yet though, so you may want to wait a bit.  But if you do 20 estimates and you close all 20, that’s not necessarily a good thing.  I know that sounds strange, but if everyone is saying "yes", price needs to be looked at.  Of course it could also mean that you’re a heckuva of a "closer".   You just want to make sure you’re making the profit per hour on each job.  

But the reason why I’m talking about price is that you mentioned houses are going between $250 and $350.  A $250 house should take you no more than 6 hours tops, inside, outside, screens, etc.  So 2 days on a $250 to $350 house is a bit too much time.  So I’m suspecting that maybe your pricing might need to be boosted.

I do need to say though that you will be slower now then someone who has been in the biz for awhile.  So keep this in mind as I talk about speed above.  I think maybe we should talk after you’ve done 20 or so jobs.  Because at that point, you should have most of your internal systems ironed out and humming along, and you should have picked up some real good speed.  Screens for example should take no more than 30 to 45 minutes at most.  If you have any questions on this, call me.  But definitely not the 3 hours it’s taking.  This’ll also be one of the things that you’ll get faster on over time though. 

Cool on the sign.  Yeah, a yard sign is a great form of advertising for sure.  And word of mouth will spread nicely for you too.  Hopefully soon you can step up your advertising although I guess you would need to be careful there due to possibly getting too many calls.  I suppose that could interfere with your day job or you’ll be forced to schedule customers a few weeks into the future.  This is not a bad thing necessarily, but some customers don’t want to wait 6 weeks to get their windows cleaned. So if you do get started with flyers for example, maybe you could test the waters by putting out 200 at a time.

But to your main question.  I personally was not a member of MWCA, but an organization like this certainly can’t hurt you.  Right…there is some material benefit and of course you’ll be able to use their logo on your marketing materials. But the main benefit to me would be that extra online exposure like you mentioned.  So it’ll be a worthwhile investment at only $50. 

I think a better investment would be BNI.  Not sure if you would be able to invest the time into it though.  It’s a super organization that’ll bring you plenty of business. It’s a bigger investment than the $50.  But of course the returns are much greater too.  The cost depends on the chapter in your area.  In order to make bni truly effective you need to show up every week at their breakfast, so I’m not sure if you’re able to do that in your current weatherman position.  If you can’t, then it’ll be a wasted investment.  But it’ll give you plenty of jobs and customers if you can manage it.

And stay tuned to 3 Bears Window Cleaning Directory. We have some really exciting things planned.  Did you create a premium listing or a standard listing? If you only created a standard listing, we’re removing all requirements for a premium listing so that everyone can get one.  We’ll be announcing that later.  And I’ve hired a couple of folks who are going to  work real hard on getting 3 Bears boosted in the search engines.  So this’ll be great for all window cleaners who are listed.

Take care for now.  Have a great day.

Regards,

Steve  

A follow up:

Steve:

Thanks for the thorough reply!

I believe that I have a good system in place regarding the actual cleaning and have become faster.  I frankly can’t start a home earlier than noon and will work no later than 6pm so I can get home to eat, relax and go to bed to get up at 2am for my primary job.  This routine allows me to clean the screens and the outsides of the windows.  These houses are fancy and I have to be extra delicate on site as the homewoner is usually there working.  But I agree- I can get a bit faster.  3 hours may have been an exaggeration.  But 35 screens off, labeled, washed, stacked and reinstalled is a big pain!

I do price 5 bucks per window, and more if they are larger, less for a sidelight, transom, etc.   I have been "taking off $20.00 by applying an internet gift certificate"- I’ll add it a bit first then subtract the 20 so net discount may be 5 or 10 bucks.  People seem to react positively.  I should be charging more for 2nd floor windows/hard-to-reach areas.  Frankly, somewhat a softy when it comes to charging someone for my time and I must get over that.  I’ve been averaging 30 bucks an hour for a job.  My best was 40 bucks an hour on one home that had no screens and all casement windows.

I think I’ll join the MWCA.

I do have a premium listing with you in 3 Bears Window Cleaning Directory and it’s listed under 3 cities.  I love it!

Thanks again.  I will call you soon for the first time and look forward to your "infinite wisdom!"

Matt

My Response:

Hi Matt:

Good morning.

Sounds super.  Wow…2am for the primary job.  That’s a toughie.  Sure….after a few more jobs, things will be a bit more streamlined.  I think a lot of the time savings come from just not having any wasted steps. It’s seems like at the beginning we spend time looking for stuff or having to think about what to do next.

 But over time we know immediately when we pull up to the house what we need to do…step 1, step 2, etc.  It’s all 2nd nature after awhile which really helps our job speed. 

Sounds good on the internet discount.  I think 30 bucks an hour is super for someone who is still relatively new.  Right…casements with no screens are cake. 

Super hourly on that job.  Yeah…the mwca is a wise investment at only $50.  Right…give me a call anytime.  We haven’t spoken yet, but I’m always available by phone 7 days a week.  Window cleaners call me all the time, so definitely no probs on calling for sure.  256-546-2446.

Take care for now and thanks for the "infinite wisdom" comment.  :o )  Have a great day.

Regards,

Steve

 

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